


Number 444

by 264feet



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Anger Management, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, New Dangan Ronpa V3 Spoilers, Pre-Canon, Pre-New Dangan Ronpa V3, Promises, Spoilers, pregame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-15 22:14:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15422730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/264feet/pseuds/264feet
Summary: "Our love's stronger than that. Even if they erase our memories, I know that I'm gonna fall in love with you again right away," Tenko whispered."Y-yeah! I know I will, too! How could I ever not be in love with you?" Himiko said. "And... once we get out and move in together, we can get married!"--(Tenko and Himiko make a promise before they audition. )





	Number 444

"This is your last chance to back out." **  
**

Himiko tightened her grip on her girlfriend's hand. "If you're gonna do it, I will too."

"But I'm doing this for both of us. When I win, we can share my prize money and you won’t have to rely on your dad anymore," Tenko explained, again.

A female voice on the intercom called out: "Number 442." Just two numbers above Tenko's. A boy with long hair stood up and was ushered by staffers into the auditioning room.

Tenko's eyes trailed him until he was out of sight, then she turned back to Himiko. "All I gotta do is kill one chump and get away with it. How hard could it be?"

"That's what I'm trying to get across!" Himiko said. "I don't want you to have to kill anyone! If we can just survive Danganronpa together and beat the Mastermind, we can get double the money and you won't have to do anything like that!"

"How do we know the idiot I bump off will be anyone good?" Tenko said, pulling her hand away suddenly. "There's a lot of scumbags in the world, especially trying out for this stupid show. If my victim is anything like your dad, I won't feel bad at all about breaking his stupid neck."

"But what if you get caught?" Tears welled up in Himiko’s eyes. "I... don't want you to get executed..."

"Then I just won't get caught. There's better odds that I can fool a group of dumb men than the both of us getting out alive. We just need to be realistic," Tenko said, but her words lost steam as she spoke. She took a deep breath, the way she had been training herself. Her girlfriend had cried enough when her dad walked in on them kissing and exploded, threatening to kick her out of the house. Tenko didn't need to make it any worse.

Tenko added, softly: "I don't want there to be any chance that anything bad will happen to you, and I know you don't want to be on Danganronpa. So... just let me do it, okay?"

"Nyeh… I… I don't want to be apart from you. We can protect each other," Himiko whined. "I'm gonna ask them for Ultimate Mage, so I can cast protection spells on you. And I’ll heal you with my extra special spells."

“Extra special?”

Himiko waited until one of the staffers- a woman with long blue hair- looked away, then sneaked a peck on Tenko’s cheek. “Mwah! You’re healed!”

Tenko covered her beet red face. “I… I feel better already! I feel like I could kill all the other people in Danganronpa!”

“Hey! Don’t use my magic for evil!” Himiko huffed.

Tenko bit her tongue, trying to prevent herself from saying anything else stupid. How bad could it be to kill someone? It was just a TV show, right? It’s not like it mattered in the real world, hypocritical as it was. Her guidance counselor yelled at her constantly for beating up the degenerate boys in her school, even when the boys called her slurs, even though the counselor had a Monokuma poster on the wall just like the rest of them. Himiko’s father could raise the most perfect and amazing daughter and throw it all away for nothing. And she just had to let it go.

Tenko had already hurt people in fights before, especially back when her temper was a lot worse. And yet, she’d never actually killed. She could still feel the warm blood on her knuckles and see the fear in a past opponent’s eyes. All she would have to do next time would be to just hit the right spot and crack his skull or break his neck.  

But seeing Himiko smiling at her like that made her keep wanting to try and keep working on controlling her temper. Every time she saw her, all the anger and pain evaporated from her body. She would never, ever hurt Himiko. But the world would hurt her, and the thought terrified Tenko.

Deep breaths.

The long haired boy walked out, looking around nervously, tugging at his face mask. He gulped catching Tenko's sharp glare, scampering out of the room. Even though she was trying to turn her thoughts away from violence, Tenko couldn't help but wonder if he would be her victim. She didn’t know anything about him and, hopefully, never would.

Tenko exhaled and Himiko stroked her thumb over her hand soothingly. If she snapped on the show, and she did get away with it, Himiko would pay the price too. The thought chilled her as if she submerged herself in an ice bath.

"Number 443," the intercom said, after a short delay. A boy sitting nearby made his way into the audition room. He looked too young to be here. All of them were too young to be here.

Himiko sniffled, squeezing Tenko’s hand tighter as if she would be forcibly dragged away. Tenko smiled at her, but tears started rolling down Himiko’s cheeks anyway. Tenko brushed them away with the back of her hand and cupped Himiko's cheek. "It’s going to be okay. This is for the best. I'm already good at aikido, so I'm going to ask for Ultimate Aikido Master. Then I can protect you, too." Himiko managed a wobbly smile back. "If you really want to do this with me, I won't stop you. But I want this to be your decision."

"I can't let everyone do everything for me," Himiko said. She wiped her nose on her sleeve. "I... wanna make my own decisions. Dating you was the best choice of my life. So... when we get out of this, we'll be even stronger than before. We’ll have even more hope, or something."

(Even though choosing to date her was exactly what got Himiko hurt. Tenko hoped that choosing to join Danganronpa with her wouldn’t get her hurt, too.)

"You're sounding like that Nagito guy from one of the games," Tenko said instead of voicing that thought. She chuckled softly.

"We beat Danganronpa 2 together!" Himiko puffed out her chest proudly. "We… we can totally do this together, too!"

The boy walked back out into the waiting room, smiling like he knew the best secret in the world. Tenko wondered what his name was, what his talent would be, if she would have to kill him. She didn’t want to kill, in the end. She never even wanted to fight. But sometimes, there just was no choice.

Tenko squeezed Himiko's hand again. "They're gonna call me in a minute."

"I hope we can both get in," Himiko said. A thought occurred to her, suddenly. "Wait... don't they wipe everyone's memories? What if I forget all about you?"

"I'm not gonna worry about it." Tenko tucked a stray lock of hair behind Himiko's ear. As much as she wanted to kiss her lips (they sparkled with strawberry lip gloss, her new favorite flavor), the staffers were looking right at them, and her father’s horrible words still rang sharply in their ears. So she forced herself to turn away, even if she were unable to get the thought of kissing her girlfriend out of her mind. "Our love's stronger than that. Even if they erase our memories, I know that I'm gonna fall in love with you again right away," Tenko whispered.

"Y-yeah! I know I will, too! How could I ever not be in love with you?" Himiko said. "And... once we get out and move in together, we can get married!"

The thought left Tenko's face burning hotter than ever. She'd look like an absolute idiot in the audition room. "Y-y-yeah. That... that sounds good," Tenko said. "Together. Yeah. M-married. Yeah."

"Number 444," the intercom said, sobering her up.

"This is it." Tenko gave Himiko a grin. She stood up and nearly fell right over when Himiko leapt onto her and wrapped her in a tight hug. "Himiko--"

"I know, I know. I'm gonna let you go, but..." She wrapped around her girlfriend like a koala. "Promise me we're gonna make it out alive together, ok? I won't ever forgive you if we don't get out together."

The staffers were glaring at them, now. Fuck it, Tenko thought. She picked her girlfriend up and kissed her, quick and sweet, and plopped her back down in her chair. "I promise. I'll wait for you outside after our auditions, okay?”

"O-okay," Himiko said, forcing another smile. She didn't look away from Tenko until she walked into the audition room and disappeared. Under her breath, she added: "I love you."

Tenko stood before the camera with strawberry on her lips and heat on her face. All she could see was the camera lens and bright lights, brighter than the sun itself. It felt like staring at the face of god. It was too late to turn back now. But she would win. She had to win. After all, they had made a promise.

And, for now, Tenko would force herself to believe it.

"Number 444," she began. "Tenko Chabashira."

**Author's Note:**

> This was quick and messy, but I really love tenmiko and needed to do something for them. I also apologize for the mentions about homophobia and I hope all my portrayals were respectful. 
> 
> commission info: https://officiallilith.tumblr.com/post/174676670574/commissions-are-open


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